Food Waste Intelligence

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has released an easy-to-use calculator that allows foodservice operations and others to calculate the methane emissions they’ve avoided by preventing food waste going to landfill. When food decomposes in the landfill, it generates methane, a greenhouse gas that is more than 28 times as potent as carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere. According to the EPA, wasted food causes 58 percent of methane emissions from landfills.

The following is an open letter to the industry and the intro to our latest e-book, “Artificial Intelligence in Food Waste Management: Leanpath’s Approach and Vision for a Sustainable Future.” Twenty years ago, when I founded Leanpath, food waste in commercial kitchens was largely an invisible problem. Today, it’s recognized as one of the most pressing challenges our industry faces, with significant economic and environmental implications. Throughout our journey, we’ve witnessed firsthand the power of data to drive change. What began ...

“Just six years remain to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals’ Target 12.3, which calls for halving food loss and waste worldwide by 2030. At this juncture, we fear that the uncomfortable truth is that SDG 12.3 is fast becoming out of reach.”

Three United States federal agencies have released the National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics. In line with the recently released U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Wasted Food Scale, the strategy prioritizes food waste prevention–stopping food waste from being created to begin with–which is the solution Leanpath provides to the foodservice industry.

This week, Leanpath is excited to be in Baltimore alongside many of our food waste reduction-focused colleagues from around the world at the 2024 ReFED Food Waste Solutions Summit. As we have been preparing for the multitude of sessions at this year’s event, we’ve also been reflecting on the state and pace of food waste reduction efforts in the U.S. and in countries across the globe.